Rory Gallagher hopes that a fundraising trip to New York in April will aid in bringing Donegal on a par with their rivals.
Gallagher, his squad and county board officials will fly out to the Big Apple for a week in mid-April, when they will play two games against New York in Gaelic Park, though the trip is primarily about raising funds.
It is no secret that Donegal lag behind their rivals in terms of facilities and finance and they hope to tap into the Donegal community abroad to try and bridge the gap.
The Training Centre in Convoy remains without a dressing room building, with players having to use portacabins to change and to eat their post-training meals.
However, the Donegal County Board aim to begin construction on a two-storey building at the venue, which now has four pitches in operation, later this year.
The plans for the dressing room building at the Donegal GAA Training Centre in Convoy
The next phase of work will cost an estimated €1.5 million.
The cost of preparing inter-county teams has rocketed in recent years but Donegal – despite having been in the last six Ulster finals and reaching two All-Irelands in the same time – are only eighth on the GAA’s big-spenders list.
In 2016, team costs for the Donegal County Board amounted to €902,542, meaning they are still some way off the six counties whose expenditure was above a million – Mayo spent more than any at €1,632,448.
“We are hoping to bring in a decent lump sum by going out but also we are hoping to make contacts out there and set up something whereby the Donegal people in New York, Boston and Philadelphia see what we are doing and try to develop some long-term funding steam for the county,” Gallagher said of the forthcoming visit to New York.
Obviously we have the training centre in Convoy which we want to get completed.
“ We have made good progress and we are into our third year there now, we have two floodlit pitches operational and another pitch operational without floodlights.
“We are still operating out of portacabins and the idea is to get it up and running.
“I think we have to maximise the people who are interested in Donegal. There is a lot of people living outside the county. There is a lot of goodwill there for the county as we found over the last six, seven years and I am sure it has always been there.”
The trip came following a conversation between Gallagher and Buncrana native Keelan McLaughlin, who is the Chairman of Donegal New York. Gallagher also spoke with Pettigo native Lawrence McGrath who is the New York Board Chairman.
The invitation for Donegal to travel had been extended before, but it is only now that the dates and schedules suit.
The trip will be funded by Donegal New York and the New York County Board.
Donegal will play New York at Gaelic Park on April 13th and 15th, while there will be a golf classic and a fundraising night that will see a number of big items auctioned off.
Gaelic Park in New York
The proceeds from the trip will go towards the training fund and the development of the Training Centre.
Gallagher said: “It is an expensive business to keep this going, we are a big county, a long way from Dublin.
“We had to get the go-ahead from the county board but they are fully behind it. We hope that it is a no-brainer and that we make good money out of it.”
Despite Donegal being in their best ever period, Gallagher believes they might’ve missed a trick until now.
His predecessor, Jim McGuinness, had sourced backers several times during his tenure and Gallagher hopes they can build good foundations Stateside – and perhaps go global at some point in the future.
He said: “We read and see what the likes of Kerry have done there and I know Monaghan were out there last year, and we are trying to do that now.
“Having been involved since 2011, I don’t feel we have tapped into it enough. The Donegal club brought me out a few years to train them before finals and I know they are friendly with some of the boys.
“We are trying to develop that now; we are trying to have some kind of long-term relationship.
“We would like to think that if we get this golf classic up and running, and maybe run it some-place with the same template the following year, it is up to the county board what way it goes then.
“We just want to use this as a starting point.”
The traveling Donegal party will go to the New York Nicks v Philadelphia 76ers game at Madison Square Garden while the county’s under-21 players will not travel should Declan Bonner’s team progress in the Under-21 Championship.
Tags: